Hot on the Web
'Granny' road warrior a hit on the Web
By Shi Xi (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-05-17 08:15
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Chen Caiping never expected that her online posts about cross-country trips with her husband would be read by thousands of people daily.
The travelogues at www.xici.net are devoid of fancy words, weird routes or romantic dramas. All the posts by the 59-year-old retired purchasing manager from Jiangsu province's capital Nanjing simply detail tips for a good trip - nothing more.
"After retiring seven years ago, we decided to see as much of the country as we could," Chen says.
Since then, she and her 63-year-old husband Li Liang have traveled to 14 provinces by train, coach and bicycle.
Chen relied on books and maps from the library to plan trips until she learned how to use the Internet four years ago, when her son left home to work in Suzhou city after having paid for a yearlong Web service package. His mother figured it would be a waste if nobody used the connection and enlisted a teenage neighbor's help to learn how to use the Internet.
She quickly earned the nickname "the granny who sells the grandpa" - a humorous reference to her trips with her husband.
Chen has since come to rely on the Web for travel information, planning her trips a month in advance.
"Travelers post so many tips that I can get any information I want," she says.
And Chen has followed suit, posting her own nuggets of wisdom for other backpackers.
"I would have missed out on a lot of fun if I didn't know how to use the Internet," she says.
Chen attributes her popularity to her detail-oriented and cost-conscious approach to travel. Every travelogue includes prices of hotels, scenic spots and bus tickets. Her trips usually cost only a few hundred yuan, which is far less than what agents would charge for group tours.
"My husband and I have a lot of time but not much money to spend. So I think a lot about price when creating an itinerary," she says.
And, she explains, the old adage about the journey being better than the destination is true about riding trains.
"We always see fantastic scenery passing by outside the windows," she says.
"Many of those places are more beautiful than those requiring expensive tickets."
Li was a technician and takes care of their bike maintenance.
"He's got a real knack for mechanics and can fix any problem our bikes have," Chen says.
They take their folding bikes practically everywhere they go throughout their voyages, usually taking a train to a city then cycling among attractions, and surrounding towns and villages.
"We even go to places netizens rate poorly, because we don't want to miss anything and regret it later," Chen says.
And the couple is most interested in places as yet unexplored by backpackers.
One of their most memorable experiences was in the Taihang Mountains, which stretch more than 400 km north to south across Henan, Shanxi and Hebei provinces.
Upon arriving in the remote Hongni village, on bike, they learned they were the first urbanites to ever visit the settlement. The residents all rushed out of their homes and encircled the outsiders.
One of the villagers, a middle-aged man, told the couple that during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45), the Red Army passed by their village and an officer left his two daughters at the village, as the journey ahead was full of perils. The man said his grandparents took care of the girls.
After the war ended, the officer came back and took his daughters to Nanjing. The man asked Chen and her husband if it was remotely possible to find those two women, whom he called "aunts".
Chen posted the message online. Surprisingly, family members of the two women contacted Chen, then they got in touch with the family in Taihang Mountains.
"It was really unexpected, and I'm glad we could help in this way," Chen says.
As Chen's blog grew in prominence, many other websites began using the couple's photos without permission. So the elderly woman designed the "Old Lady Stamp" and puts it on every image.
"That way, people at least know we took the pictures," she says.
Chen and Li are taking a break from their journeys to care for her 88-year-old mother and prepare for their son's wedding.
Their next destination is the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region near the border with Vietnam.
"I want to see the idyllic scenery there," Chen says. "When everything is set, we'll hit the road again."
China Daily
(China Daily 05/17/2010 page22)
